1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to instant green tea having excellent taste and flavor, having a vivid green color in its powder form and as a beverage, and being resistant to sedimentation during the period from preparation to serving.
2. Description of the Related Art
Instant green tea allowing green tea to be served without the need for such time-consuming work as brewing in a teapot is available. Such instant green tea generally takes the form of a dry powder, and can be served by being mixed with hot water in a vessel such as a tea cup.
Such instant green tea was developed for the purpose of eliminating the time-consuming work in preparing tea. As a result, the quality of the resulting tea, such as flavor, was lower than that of normal green tea.
For that reason, development of instant green tea for the purpose of giving a preparation having a quality equivalent to that of the green tea prepared by normal brewing method has been in progress.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2003-274859 discloses a method of producing an instant green tea by dispersing a tealeaf powder in an aqueous solvent containing a drying aid, preferably adjusting the pH of the leaf dispersion to 6.0 to 7.2 and spray-drying the dispersion.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 6-178650 discloses a method of producing an antioxidative instant green tea by mixing a green tea leaf powder, a green tea extraction solution and an excipient, adjusting the solid matter content in the mixture to 40 to 85 wt %, and drying the mixture under vacuum.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 59-31649 discloses an instant green tea produced by mixing an extraction solution obtained by dissolving and extracting the soluble components in tea leaves or the concentrated solution thereof, with a tea leaf fine powder, a filler and other additives and drying the resulting mixture.
Although many instant green teas have been developed, none has excellent taste and flavor, a vivid green color in its powder form and as a beverage, and is resistant to sedimentation during the period from preparation to serving.
An object of the present invention is to provide an instant green tea that has excellent taste and flavor and a vivid green color in its powder form and as a beverage, and is resistant to sedimentation during the period from preparation to serving.